A Great Christmas Tradition for Parents and Grandparents To Start This Year

“At the heart of every family tradition is a meaningful experience.” — unknown

Decorating the Christmas tree, we turn on holiday classics, pour ourselves some peppermint hot chocolate, and sing and dance as we pull ornaments one by one and place them on the tree.

Among the decor, plastic bulbs, with my children’s photos placed inside. This is the tradition I wish I started earlier. I have the “school year” photos on the wall from Kindergarten to now grade 4 and grade 7; however, there is something magical about pulling the image one by one and placing it on the tree.

I started placing photos in the clear bulbs when the kids were age 5 and 7, and have yet to do so for their earlier years. This is the tradition I wish I started from birth.

Within other clear bulbs, their hospital bracelets are another ornament that dons the tree. Our tree is a living time capsule for our family.

The light catches the clear ornaments and shines on their faces as brilliantly as their goofy school photos. Laughter and cheer is celebrated with every ornament, making the popular tradition of decorating a tree that much more magical.

Further, each trip we go on, we return with a key chain to serve as an ornament (souvenir ornaments are way too expensive, whereas, I can collect a key chain for a dollar in most places).

As each ornament, clear photo bulb or key chain, is pulled from storage and placed on the tree to be displayed for a month, we have a living memory box and the experience, a new tradition to enjoy.

What are your holiday traditions? Is this one you think that you might start?

From my family to yours, happy holidays.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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